Axis and Allies DARKSIDE: Bombing Civilians Rule

@hengst This house rules forum is full of ideas. To avoid scripted games you need a varaiety ways to win or lose a game in a reasonable amount of time ,eg 8 to 12 rounds.BBR and 3G40 are rulesets that encourage you to win by achieving various victory objectives.(not just victory cities)
3G40 changes turn order,merges Anzac into UKPacific,and sticks pretty close to oob rules.BBR is more complex than oob and is real popular.Both are designed to play in 1 day and to be able to declare a winner.

First of all, I’d like to introduce myself. I am the A&AClassicDude. I am pretty new to Axis and Allies and the Axis and Allies Community. I know the most about and make YouTube videos about Axis and Allies Classic. My channel is relatively new and small. With introductions out of the way let’s get to business.
Here are all my custom house rules my friend and I made. Please notify me of any issues that may exist in these rules.

Axis and Allies Classic House Rules By: A&AClassicDude
1: Creation of  an important city
To create an important city, the player must meet certain requirements
The Player must meet all of the following criteria

•Must own the territory
•Territory must have a value of 2 or more
•On the territory, there must already be 3 Infantry and 2 Tanks. These cannot be moved until construction of the new city is complete.
•Must create an Industrial Complex on desired territory
•On the same territory, an Anti-Aircraft must be built. It cannot be moved. If the Anti-Aircraft is moved, the territory ceases to be an important city. When the Anti-Aircraft is moved back on, the territory will become an important city once more. The Anti-Aircraft must be constructed from the Industrial Complex, and cannot be moved onto from another territory.
•Lastly, for the territory to become an important city, the player must purchase a “Headquarters”. The Headquarters is indicated by another Industrial Complex.The  Headquarters unit costs 10 IPCs to construct and cannot be destroyed, moved, or brought into battle. It can only be bought when all of the other conditions are met.

Changes to game play: With the new important city, even if the Power’s main capital is taken, the Power can keep it’s IPCs because of the new important city and still be able to produce units. An important city is not to be confused with a Victory City in other versions of Axis and Allies. What an important city does is decrease the chance of the Power to dropout of the game. For the power to dropout, everyone one of its important cities must be captured. (Ex. If the U.S.S.R creates 3 Important Cities, every single Important City must be taken including Moscow for the U.S.S.R to drop out the game). During the construction of an important city the industrial complex can only build the economic value of the territory. However, once the Headquarters unit is constructed, the Industrial Complex is now able to create up to 5 units per turn.

2: Multiple hit Aircraft Carriers and Battleships
To make them more worth their high price, Aircraft Carriers and Battleships take 2 hits like in other Axis and Allies versions, but still cost the same. Unlike other version of Axis and Allies however, damaged Battleships and Aircraft Carriers cannot be rebuilt as there are no Naval Bases. (Unless the U.S.A  has their country specific upgrade which allows them to do so.)

3: Kamikaze
If any Aircraft attacks the opponent, and doesn’t have enough movement to land safely, it can Kamikaze itself. This’ll let a player get the extra power they need if they’re willing to give up an Aircraft

4: Paratroopers
Usually Bombers are unable to carry land units. With House Rules, they can carry 1, and only 1 infantry. They work much like transports in terms of being attacked. If the bomber is shot down mid-carry of an infantry, the infantry dies with it. During the period of a bomber carrying an Infantry, the bomber is unable to attack on a 4 as it usually would. Until the bomber releases the infantry, it cannot attack, no matter the situation. If the bomber is defending, it can still retaliate for a 1. Bombers can only carry the infantry if the infantry starts on the same territory as it. (If the bomber is mid-air it cannot pick anything up, so realism applies here too).

5: No retaliation if all attacker’s units hit.
If the person attacking has all the troops it brought into battle, hit, then the defender will not get a chance to retaliate. For this rule to activate, the attacker must also have more troops than the defender. This rule doesn’t apply to 1 single attacking unit. (Ex. The U.S attacks a Japanese fleet of air crafts. The U.S has 3 Fighters, and Japan has 2. If all of the U.S’ fighters roll a 3 or less, then Japan doesn’t get to roll for defense. In another situation, if the U.S had 1 fighter, and Japan also had 1 fighter, if the U.S rolls a 3 or less, Japan’s fighter still gets to retaliate.) This rule applies at the beginning of every turn (Rolling session)  in a battle.

6: Political Power
During the game, it is possible to have your country collapse politically. If your income is less than 25% of your base, your country will fall into a Political collapse.

What is a Political Collapse?
In the house rules, a Political Collapse affects your country by weakening your army and selection of units. During a Political Collapse, a country can only buy Infantry, Fighters, and Submarines. They are unable to retreat from battles. All troops on territories that aren’t on the capital, or any territories surrounding it, will turn neutral the moment a Political Collapse happens. These events and gimps only occur once per Political Collapse.  A country enters Political Collapse when the power’s economic value is that of  its capital or less. (Ex. The U.S.S.R will enter a Political Collapse when it has less that 8 Economic Worth because it’s capital is worth 8 IPCs).  During a Political collapse, the power only receives half of its income (The greater half, if it’s an odd number). A country can escape Political collapse once it has more than a certain income, but can easily fall back in at any point afterward.
The income for each power to fall into Political Collapse:
•U.S.S.R:8 Economy or less
•Germany: 10 Economy (12 with Italy mode) or less
•The U.K: 8 Economy or less
•Japan: 8 Economy or less
•The U.S.A: 12 Economy or less
(If Italy mode is in play)
•Italy: 5 Economy or less

7: Country Specific Upgrades
During the Research and Development phase, if the player rolls a six they can either choose their country specific upgrade, or from the R&D chart after rolling again.

The U.S.S.R’s: Infantry Sale
Infantry cost 2 IPCs instead of 1.

Germany’s: The Mighty Waffen SS
Adds a new unit, the SS Infantry. It costs 4 IPCs but can attack on a 2

The U.K’s: Scrambling Aircrafts
Much like other versions of the game, the U.K will have access to scrambling. The U.K can scramble up to 3 aircrafts on air bases. All capitals and important cities are considered air bases as well. Note: The U.K can scramble on allied air bases and even during their ally’s defending turn.

Japan’s: Sneaky Submarines
On the offense, all Japanese submarines can attack with their surprise submarine attack twice. Not during the same turn, but they’re able to do it in turns 1 and 2. This applies to all Japanese submarines, and there are no limits.

The U.S.A’s: Better Work Ethic
The U.S.A can repair damaged battleships and aircraft carriers in any American industrial complex in a territory touching a sea zone.

Italy’s: Cheaper Aircrafts
The fighter’s cost is reduced to 9 and the bomber’s cost is reduced to 11.

Rejected Ideas:
Russian Winter
German U-Boats
Island Defense Infantry
Increased Movement Submarines
Double Hit Tanks

8: Italy
Italy is an added power to the game. Italy goes last in turn order. It begins with 15 income, and starts with the following territories.

•Southern Europe (Now known as Italy) being worth 5 IPCs. It starts with 3 Tanks, 1 Infantry, 1 Fighter, 1 Industrial Complex, and 1 Anti-Aircraft Gun. In its sea zone, there is a transport.
•Algeria being worth 2 IPCs. It starts with 2 Infantry
•Libya being worth 1 IPC. It starts with 1 Infantry.
•Anglo Egypt Sudan being worth 2 IPCs. It starts with 2 Infantry and 1 Fighter.
•Spain isn’t neutral anymore. It is now worth 3 IPC. It starts with 1 Tank. In its sea zone (In the Mediterranean)  it has 1 submarine.
•Turkey isn’t neutral anymore. It is now worth 2 IPCs. It starts with 1 Tank and 1 Fighter. In it’s sea zone it has 1 submarine.

Changes to Germany: Since Algeria, Libya, and Southern Europe now belong to Italy. Germany’s territories’ values have been changed. Germany still has an income of 32 IPCs, but the territories are worth more and less now.
Berlin, Germany is worth 12 IPCs
Western Europe is worth 5 IPCs
Eastern Europe is worth 5 IPCs
Finland/Norway is worth 5 IPCs
Ukraine S.S.R is worth 5 IPCs
All of Germany’s units that were originally in Southern Europe, Libya, and Algeria, don’t get transferred to another territory. This means that Germany actually loses units and starts off with less than normal.

Changes to The U.K:
Now that Anglo-Egypt Sudan belongs to Italy the 2 IPC worth gets transferred to India, making India worth 5 IPCs.
All of the U.K’s units on Anglo-Egypt Sudan are moved to Syria-Iraq.
The U.K’s battleship that was in Gibraltar’s sea zone gets moved to the U.K’s, meaning that mainland U.K’s sea zone starts with 2 battleships

I totally agree.
Timeframe and time lapse between turn makes a better understanding of how units interactions in combat rounds depict in an impressionistic way WWII battles.

If people want to see a houserule set intended to simplify interactions between these units, based partly on Classic Submarine unit here is the start of the opening post. Follow the title-link:

@Baron:

THE ISSUE

According to Dedo (see quote below), and probably other players (I’m thinking about Toblerone77), many new players seem to have issues with rules about defenseless Transports, Submarines immune to aircrafts or not and the various combinations with Destroyer presence or absence.

The learning curve can be hard, particularly when special interactions which deviate from regular rules and principles of this game are involved. Since many months I tried to find different solutions to answer this issue of complex and out of usual interactions. Maybe now this can have a useful purpose.

Wanting to help new players focus more on strategy than bogging on special rules, I would like to introduce six changes to Transport, Destroyer and Submarine combat rules to simplify things.

@Baron:

@dedo:

When following the forums of 1941 and 1942.2, I counted roundabout 20 topics (that is up to 10 percent) with questions concerning submarine or transport rules in both of the forums. It seems that for new players especially these rulebook parts are difficult to understand. Wouldn’t it be appropriate to pin down these rules in general parlance and to make them sticky in the forums? Honor to the members, who has already answered the more or less countless questions concerning these topics, but in my opinion we should put an end to this and stop to reinvent the wheel by giving a clearer wording to these mechanics of the game obviously difficult to understand. What do you think?

For my part, I revised these TPs and Subs rules to make interactions simpler between Subs, Destroyers, planes and TPs for tabletop games.
Your comments make me thinks about an alternate rules set which can be provided in addition to the OOB rules. New players can use it as a simpler intermediary or introductory step.

@Der:

@toblerone77:

Many of the newer OOB rules since revised in fact do not help the game for the more casual player and stretch the game out to the point where; if you can actually find a gamer willing to give it a go, you must use HRs in many cases to get them even close to playing the game again.

I absolutely agree! I think this subject - of general simplicity in Axis And Allies - is worthy of its own thread, so I will start one.

So, following this line of thinking to help introduce new players to a less complex naval combat interaction, I suggest this changes and tweak to simplify things and improve the impressionistic WWII depiction of Submarine warfare and Anti-Sub air cover and patrol to protect Transports and Convoys.

The second post of this thread is a transcription of OOB 1942.2 rules with corresponding changes suggested in this opening post. So, you can print them and see where these changes take place in the rulebook.

LIST of SIX small changes to help make unit interactions more consistent from a beginner POV:

Transport is treated as any other surface vessel when allocating casualty: each elligible transport unit worth 1 hit and can be chosen according to owner’s choice, whether before or after a combat unit has been selected as casualty.
OPTIONAL variant: Still worth 1 hit and Transports are taken as last casualties.

One or more friendly Transport units, sharing the same SZ, get a single defense die roll value of 1 per combat round.

Submarine cannot block unescorted Transport from amphibious landing.
Submarine and Transport cannot control SZ and can ignore each other in combat or noncombat move.

Submarine cannot hit, or be hit by, another submarine.

Destroyer does not block Submarine’s Surprise Strike.

But plane does not need Destroyer presence to hit unsubmerged Submarine.

IMPACTS of these changes:

No more defenseless Transport: TP get a combat value and can be taken as casualty the same way as other units.
Taken last can be an optional variant which is nearer OOB rule.

No combat value changes for Submarines or aircrafts with/without friendly or enemy Destroyer presence.
Aircrafts act the same as Cruiser, Carrier, Battleship when making attack or defense rolls against Submarines, except Subs still cannot hit aircrafts.

Since Submarine cannot harm enemy Sub, no fleet padding can rely solely on this cheapest unit.
Destroyer remains a must against Submarine and because Destroyer can hit aircrafts.

Submarine iconic Surprise Strike full capacity is counterbalanced by Transport illegibility as casualty and Sub inability to stop amphibious assault from lonely TPs.

WARSHIPS & TRANSPORT
Legend on unit capacities:
Unit type        Cost
Combat values
Special abilities

Submarine    6 IPCs
Attack 2 first strike*
Defense 1 first strike*
Move 2
Surprise strike: *Permanent first strike Attack 2 and Defense 1 against all surface vessels only, including Destroyers.
Submerge (instead of firing in Surprise strike phase)
Stealth Move
Unsubmerged Submarine unit can be hit by planes without any Destroyer (or Anti-Sub Vessel) presence.
Cannot hit planes nor submarines.
Cannot control SZ and can be ignored by other warship and Transport units.

Destroyer    8 IPCs
Attack 2
Defense 2
Move 2
Anti-Sub Vessel: One Destroyer unit blocks all Submarine’s Submerge and Stealth move.
Does not block Submarine’s Surprise Strike.

Transport    7 IPCs
Attack 0
Defense 1* per TPs group
Hit value: 1 Worth 1 hit and can be chosen as casualty anytime, same as warships.
Move 2
*Special Convoy Escort Defense: One single defense @1, each combat round for all friendly transports sharing SZ.
Cannot control SZ and can be ignored by other warship units.
Non-escorted Transport can make amphibious landing in Submarines infested SZ, (same rule as OOB first edition)
so Transport can ignore Submarine during Combat and Non-Combat phases, same as warships.

OPTIONAL Variant: Taken as last casualty, once all other illegible units has been chosen as casualty.

QUESTIONS:

Question 1: Do you believe that such units values can be simpler (less exemptional rules) and be used instead of OOB rules to make some baby steps toward a full OOB rules implementation?

Question 2: Is it still somewhat balanced in itself?

Question 3: Do you think that this 1 hit Transport with a small combat value is an easier rule to grasp for beginner?

Question 4: Do you think these six changes really improve WWII depiction of Submarine warfare and Anti-Sub air patrol to protect Transports and Convoys?

So in the above example, exactly how many IPCs did you spend?

@Adlertag:

Welcome to Håkan from neutral Sweden.

Some people say that making house rules is like insulting the game designer. But in this case I know Larry is OK with it. At least he should be used to it by now. Butt, when that is said, make som house rules that really make a difference, god dammit. Make a rule that allow attacks on neutral Sweden.

THE REAL HOUSE RULE:

Sweden is a 3 IPC territory. Sweden is controlled by Germany at the start. Anyone may attack, strategig bombard, looting and plunder Sweden any time, just for fun.

I’m Canadian so I wouldn’t loot and plunder……  I truly believe that Axis and Allies is one of those rare games that just scream for creative house rules, it’s only natural to want to improve this game with you’re own ideas and thats what makes it so addictive.

i like the idea of tanks the 4/4 tanks can be like tigers

OK TBB, ther are a few sights that offer tactical insight. Do an axis and allies search to find these. Look for Don Rae’s essays if you have some time on your hands. Silex offers a good map. Also look in the games section of this site to see how some experienced people play. Some of the posts in player help and axis and allies could be useful. Have fun!

i highly recomend it

i’ll never forget my friends faces when i landed in there capitols